Legislation would add e-cigarettes to Minn. smoking ban

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State Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, wants to clear up confusion about the use of electronic cigarettes by adding the so-called vaping devices to the statewide cigarette ban.

She plans to introduce legislation in the 2014 session that would add e-cigarettes to the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act.

"Right now, we've got a patchwork system where local governments and even individual businesses make their own rules," Kahn said in a press release. "It's creating a lot of confusion. My bill removes any doubt as to where e-cigarettes can be used by applying the same regulations we have for traditional tobacco products."

Kahn joins The Daily Circuit to discuss the issue.

LEARN MORE ABOUT E-CIGARETTES:

• Are e-cigarettes safe?
One billion people smoke worldwide and tobacco shortens the lives of half of all users. With consumption of tobacco products increasing globally, finding a way to help smokers to quit is vital. Electronic cigarettes, which contain nicotine in water vapour, are one new approach, but there is very little research into whether they have any harmful effects. (BBC)

• E-cigarette use increasingly popular among teens
Electronic cigarette use has more than doubled among U.S. teens, rising from 4.7 percent of high school students in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012, according to a survey published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Use of the devices also doubled among middle school students, say CDC officials, who called the National Youth Tobacco Survey results "deeply troubling."